1. Field of the Invention
THE PRESENT INVENTION relates to an air-bag arrangement for a motor vehicle and more particularly relates to an air-bag arrangement suitable for mounting in front of an occupant of the motor vehicle in the steering column or the dashboard of the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known to mount an air-bag and a gas generator arrangement in front of an occupant of the motor vehicle such that in an accident situation, the gas generator will inject gas into the air-bag to inflate the air-bag. Thus, as the torso and head of the occupant move forward rapidly, the inflated air-bag provides a cushioning effect to reduce or minimise injury to the occupant of the vehicle.
However, a problem arises with such prior air-bag arrangements when the occupant of the vehicle is not fully sitting back in the vehicle seat. For example the occupant of the vehicle may be leaning forward to obtain an item from the glove compartment or may, for any other reason, be sitting forwardly of the seat such that his head and upper torso is relatively close to the air-bag arrangement.
If an occupant of the vehicle is leaning forwardly relative to the normal position of an occupant of the seat, the rapidly inflating air-bag will impact with the occupant and further inflation of the air-bag will be resisted or prevented. Consequently the gas pressure within the air-bag will increase to a level much greater than that experienced during unimpeded inflation of the air-bag. Consequently high forces will be exerted on the part of the occupant adjacent the air-bag, which may lead to serious injuries. It is therefore desirable, after part of the occupant has impacted with the air-bag, to reduce gas pressure within the air-bag and consequently to reduce the force exerted by the inflating air-bag on the part of the occupant of the vehicle.